Fairy-tale already turning sour for Tangerines (Feature)

By Jonathan Wilson Aug 11, 2010, 11:57 GMT

London - Blackpool had the second smallest budget in the Championship last season, so when they won promotion under maverick manager Ian Holloway it seemed a wonderful rags-to-riches story.

This is a side that hasn't been in the top flight for almost 40 years, whose ground has a capacity of under 18,000, and whose record signing is still only 500,000 pounds (750,000 dollars).

Holloway is a likable eccentric, a genial man noted for acts of generosity - 'your train's not till when? Come into the directors' lounge and have a drink...'

Everybody agrees it's good to have him and his quirky idiom - the long and rambling metaphors that never quite make sense are good value anyway - back in the Premier League.

But with the club itself, the dream is already beginning to look a little shabby.

For one thing, there is their choice of short sponsor. This is - almost certainly - a once in a lifetime trip to the Premier League for Blackpool, and what name will they have across their tangerine shirts?

Wonga.com.

It's not just an ugly, silly name; it's what it represents. Wonga describe themselves as the providers of 'fast, short-term loans online' and promise to 'deposit cash straight into your bank account within 15 minutes of approval, 24/7'.

The emphasis is on the 'short term'; it has to be, given Wonga charges an annual interest rate of 2,869 per cent.

In other words, they are the last resort of the poor and the desperate.

Fair enough, you may think, the desperate need a last resort to stumble from one pay-day to the next. But of course they don't portray themselves as such.

Last month, the Advertising Standards Authority found Wonga guilty of two breaches of the TV Advertising Standards Code and warned them about future examples of misleading advertising.

Blackpool's players may wonder whether the club itself may be advised to take advantage of Wonga's service. After all, they have yet to be paid the 400,000-pound promotion bonus the club's owner Karl Oyston surely thought he would never have to come good on.

Bitterness, not surprisingly, is mounting, and an unhappy dressing room is hardly a good way to start what is sure to be a difficult season.

Listening to Holloway, it sounds as though even he has already given up the fight.

Blackpool squeaked up through the play-offs having finished in sixth place last season, and their squad, if anything looks weaker than it was last year.

Striker Billy Clarke and midfielder Keith Southern have both suffered long-term knee injuries, and their one signing so far was the defender Dekel Keinan, picked up on a free from Maccabi Haifa.

Factor in the fact that redevelopment work at the stadium means four of their first five games will be played away, which may cost them valuable early momentum, and their slim chances of survival seem rapidly to be approaching nil.

Those who think clubs should take a moral stand on what they promote would say good riddance.